LGBTQ+ HISTORY
The Singer Who Accidentally Let Gay People Out of the Closet
Anita Bryant paid a price for her war against "vice"
Before Anita Bryant accidentally ignited the gay rights movement, she won the 1958 Miss Oklahoma pageant, performed at the White House, and joined comedian Bob Hope on seven USO tours of Vietnam.
In 1969, the Florida Citrus Commission made her their national spokesperson to the tune of $100,000 a year. Baby boomers grew up on her TV commercials. "A day without orange juice is like a day without sunshine," she chirped. We chugged down the stuff like troopers.
She also sold boatloads of Coca-Cola and tons of Kraft Foods and Tupperware. In 1973, she sang “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” at LBJ’s funeral. She belted out “The National Anthem” during the half-time show at the Super Bowl.
Hell, she probably sang patriotic songs in the shower of the Spanish stucco mansion where she and her husband, Bob Greene, raised four children. Their digs on Biscayne Bay had a waterfall and a heart-shaped Jacuzzi.
Bryant topped the Good Housekeeping magazine poll as the "Most Admired Woman in America" in 1978, 1979, and 1980. A Gallup poll listed her as one of the ten most popular women on Earth.
The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
She earned much of that admiration by opposing the revolutions of the 1960s and 1970s. She supported the Vietnam War, calling it a fight between atheism and God. When Jim Morrison got arrested for exposing himself at a concert, she organized a "Rally for Decency."
Anita's juicy gems
If gays are granted rights, next we’ll have to give rights to prostitutes and to people who sleep with St. Bernards and to nail biters.
If homosexuality were normal, God would have created Adam and Bruce.
I don’t hate homosexuals. I love homosexuals. It’s the sin of homosexuality I hate.
I would give my life if necessary to protect my children. I’m concerned with giving them the right clothes to wear…If they’re exposed to homosexuality, I might as well feed them garbage.
In January 1977, Dade County, Florida, considered an ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. Anita and her husband spoke against the ordinance at a commissioner’s meeting. They lost but refused to accept defeat. Sound familiar? The gay rights ordinance passed.
In response, Bryant launched the "Save Our Children Campaign." She needed 10,000 signatures for a referendum so Dade County voters could overturn the ordinance.
She announced her plan at a press conference, standing in front of a banner that said, "Save Our Children from Homosexuals."
Within six weeks, Bryant gathered 64,000 signatures. She did it by portraying gays and lesbians as a danger to kids. Those words became her battle cry.
Homosexuals cannot reproduce, so they must recruit. And to freshen their ranks, they must recruit the youth of America…No one has the right to corrupt our children.
Her fight drew national attention. Jerry Falwell flew to Miami in a private jet to help his gal pal. The Governor of Florida got behind Bryant.
On the other side, President Jimmy Carter endorsed the ordinance. So did Barbara Streisand, Jane Fonda, Vincent Price, and Mary Tyler Moore. Gay bars across the country boycotted orange juice. If you ordered a screwdriver, you got vodka and apple juice.
In June 1970, voters overturned the ordinance by a huge margin, 66 percent. Dade County residents could discriminate against gays again.
Bryant could have stopped there and basked in victory. Hell, no. She spearheaded a national campaign with rallies in Houston, New Orleans, Atlanta, and Chicago. Her movement, now called Protect Our Children, overturned gay rights ordinances in St. Paul, Minnesota, Wichita, Kansas, and Eugene, Oregon.
She won battle after battle. It looked like she might win the war. But not so fast. Bryant had woken a sleeping giant. Gay people organized and fought back. They found out they were good at it.
San Francisco took to the streets on the night of the Dade County referendum. So did New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Denver, Houston, and New Orleans.
Gay rights activist Bob Kunst said,
I think she is doing more for the gay community and more for the humanist movement than anybody else on this planet. I support everything she is doing. I would like to see her have as much exposure as possible. I think she is rallying the community together like I have never seen before. There’s no way I could have done it on my own.
Today, if you listen to conservatives talk about drag queens and trans rights, you'll hear echoes of Anita Bryant's war cries.
The same tired tropes are making a comeback. It's all about protecting the children, the same children who hide under their desks during active shooter drills.
The controversy opened another can of worms. For the first time in my memory, two polarized camps attacked each other with every tool in their arsenal. It got personal. Those worms never crawled back into the can. Polarization increased, and now people see the other side in any political debate as enemies.
When Anita spoke at a press conference in Des Moines, Iowa, Thom L. Higgens rushed the stage and threw a banana cream pie in her face on live television. I can’t help but feel bad for her as she tries to put on a brave face but breaks down and sobs. The older I get, the more I wish people could be kinder to each other.
Bryant wasn’t the only casualty. On the other side, protestors firebombed gay activists' cars. Someone threw a Molotov cocktail through the window of their Miami headquarters. An angry woman followed Ruth Shack, the initiative's sponsor, into a department store dressing room, pushed her, and spat in her face.
As the gay rights movement grew, Bryant’s career and personal life fell apart. The Singer Corporation backed out of plans for a weekly TV show citing too much bad publicity. The Orange Bowl Parade dropped her as a commentator. So did Florida Citrus.
Her 20-year marriage collapsed under the strain. When Bryant divorced Bob Greene, many of her fundamentalist followers jumped ship. Divorce was right up there with homosexuality as an affront to decency.
Bryant moved from Miami to Selma, Alabama, and later to Atlanta, Georgia. She remarried in 1990 and tried to relaunch her career. It was a no-go. Bankruptcies, unpaid employees, and creditors piled up.
Today she lives in her home state of Oklahoma and runs Anita Bryant Ministries International.
She recently called her granddaughter, Sarah Greene. Bryant, now 83, sang happy birthday and assured Greene that, with faith, the right man would come along.
"I hope that he doesn't come along because I'm gay, and I don't want a man to come along," Greene replied. She's marrying a woman and is unsure whether to invite Bryant to the ceremony or if she’d even attend if invited.
Anita, if by some miracle you’re reading this, please go to Sarah’s wedding if she invites you. Sorry about the pie.
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